Original Release: 4/24/18
This was made for the first Venom trailer, but I guess it fits pretty well for the second one to, doesn’t it?
Have you seen the new trailer for Venom yet?
I’m torn on it. On one hand, the story itself looks kind of messy, Tom Hardy (while a fantastic actor) seems a poor casting for Eddie Brock, and the utter lack of Spiderman in the story makes me very worried.
On the other, the way they’re writing Eddie seems accurate to the comic for the most part, while different enough to set him apart from the typical murderous psycho we know and love. Having him struggle with an actual sense of justice against the Symbiote’s killer instinct is a new take for the character that could work, sense it seems that they’re removing Spiderman from the story. The action seems pretty cool and Venom himself looks rad as hell.
Does it look bad? Not necessarily. Does it look good? Not necessarily. Honestly, I don’t know how it looks yet. I’ll just have to wait until I see the movie.
But I do want to talk about my biggest concern. One I’ve already alluded to on this very post.
Spiderman.
Anyone who knows the origin story of Venom as a villain knows just how important Spiderman is to that equation. Eddie Brock, desperate to climb the ladder at his job, created fake photos of Spiderman committing heinous crimes. But when Spiderman/Peter Parker proved these photos to be fake, his life collapsed. Then, in the church, he met the Venom Symbiote, who just underwent a very loud breakup with Spiderman. Thus, without Spiderman, everything that makes Venom who they are wouldn’t exist. Hell, they even kind of stole his appearance.
Now, I get it. I watched the trailer. They’re writing Eddie to be a similar but different character from the comic. While he does still have his born need to poke too far as a reporter, he isn’t malicious about it. He doesn’t want to make more money from it. He wants to expose someone whose being an evil asshole. Simply put, they’ve given Eddie Brock a sense of justice.
Which leads to my next confliction with this movie: Venom being an Anti-Hero.
Now, we’ve seen Venom fill the role of anti-hero many times. It’s nothing new. Whenever a threat greater than him appears, such as Carnage (whom I’d love to see in this movie), he’d put aside his own evil intent to team up with Spiderman and stop him. So I’m open to the idea of Venom having some sense of good inside.
But it’s a delicate line.
Eddie has a sense of justice. The Symbiote does not. This could lead to a really cool dynamic between the two as Venom struggles with his human and alien sides. But if it’s done poorly, the whole film could come crashing down.
There are two massive ways they could screw this up: constant bickering or the instant friendship.
Let’s face it, watching two characters bicker and shout at each other is not fun. Ever. Bickering allies is a character dynamic that needs to be wrapped up quickly. Otherwise, you’re just presenting something no one wants to take part in over and over: an argument. If they go with this in the movie, I get the feeling that it’ll go on for half of, if not all of, the running time of the film. Do you want to watch two hours of Eddie bickering with an alien? The answer is simply no.
The other is the instant friendship. It’s so boring when characters who shouldn’t get along simply become friends immediately, despite their massive differences in personality, beliefs, and actions. Skipping over the part where they actually grow closer and learn more about each other (y’know, like people do) leaves a hole in the story.
Balance is required. Very delicate balance. Is that balance impossible? No.
Do I have faith Sony can do it? Also no.
This isn’t a main series MCU film. It’s ‘In Association’ with Marvel, not directly ‘Marvel Studios’. Therefore, they have no control over the project (as far as I know, at least). So that leaves it to Sony Pictures.
Hope is lost.
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